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Time to Rise

Time to Rise

As a facilitator of workshops and retreats for women and mothers, my focus has always been to support our gender through working with individuals, together. In this context we have so much to share, to learn and to co-create. We can find our fears and hopes reflected by others and the sense of community and commonality this generates, brings us strength in what can be an isolating modern era.

And I would like to speak about why I offer this work, because this is a lifetime’s calling for me and the calling is getting stronger…

I feel that it is important to firstly reflect on the times we are living in. Globally we are stuck in a legacy of cultural conditioning that prioritises material wealth over our actual human potential for spiritual depth and compassion-based thinking. Politicians from East to West are demonstrating greed and shallow, short-sighted attempts to ‘make things work’ but they are using archaic, out-dated models of economic control emerging from the strongly patriarchal system which has dominated throughout much of recorded history.

My belief is that at this time of humanity’s “dark night of the soul”, we are in desperate need of an energy that is embodied by ‘the Mother’ to revive our arid consumer society and unbounded environmental abuse.

This is an energy that does not only belong to mothers or to women. Men can hold it too. It is a depth of care behind purpose; if it were a conversation in a shop it would not be “How much does this cost?” but instead “How are you? Have you had a good morning? And what would you like to receive in exchange for this?”

It is in the warmth in our hearts; in the flush of oxytocin we feel when we greet a baby or child and see them smile or laugh. It is making time to listen to someone. And I am not trying to idealise motherhood. Having had two children of my own I also recognize the huge challenges of mothering that can at times provoke harsh feelings or explosive reactions in us.

However, this is food for growth and at the heart of this mother energy there is an archetypal quality that can encompass all, the difficult and the joyful. The mother’s arms can be unconditionally wide with a love – be it firey or flowing – for the whole spectrum of life’s experiences.

But this quality of unconditionality springs from a place of nourishment. It is hard to find it in the dry wells of exhaustion, drudgery and lack of personal-space or self-expression.

And here is where I see a change of approach necessary for us to play a bigger part in the global shift we are making from the old hierarchies of power and control into the next phase of human evolution:

In order for women to ‘Rise’ in whatever way we choose to do so, we need respite; time to reflect, to create, to connect both inwardly and as communities. We need to find a deeper level of compassion for ourselves so that our healing-hearts can be authentic as we encounter others.

And it is not even as simple as this. Some of us have important inner-processes to experience or deep personal healing work to do as part of our contribution to the whole. These women’s life-stories alone can be hugely inspirational to all those they reach. ‘Opening hearts’ can take the form of generously sharing your journey with others.

Women also need ‘breathing space’ to experience a deeper level of self-nurture and expansiveness, and as a place to release stress or overwhelm.

Our ability to share compassion with the men in our lives and to enshrine the mother energy within them depends on how we are cultivating our inner essence of self-love.

So remember to be generous with your heart and tread gently on your life-path, however bold your steps. Because it is time to Rise, one day at a time, moment by moment, in the small acts as well as the courageous ones.

And you are not alone. We rise together and the world now requires that we women trust ourselves enough to do so.